Dateline

Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria

Astute Is Biggest Killer Sub Ever Built

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A THIRD LONGER than any previous submarine, at 318 feet and 7,400 tons, HMS Astute can circumnavigate the globe without surfacing, carrying sonar so advanced it can detect another ship 3,000 miles away. The nuclear sub will never need refueling. Astute can cruise underwater at 20 knots and makes less noise than a baby dolphin.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, cracked a bottle of beer brewed onboard over Astute’s hull at her launching in front of an invited crowd of 10,000 dockworkers, schoolchildren and dignitaries in Barrow-in-Furness, and returned for a visit with the crew this October. The sub heads for sea trials before going into service with the Royal Navy.

Shepherd’s Bush, London

Europe’s Largest Urban Mall Opens

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THE WESTFIELD CENTRE, advertised as Europe’s biggest inner-city shopping complex, has opened in Shepherd’s Bush. The 43-acre mall contains 265 shops, including anchor stores such as Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, as well as 50 restaurants, a 14-screen cinema, spa, gym and library. Mayor Boris Johnson officially opened the mall with the confident projection that it will draw 25 million shoppers a year despite the economic climate.

And Just in Passing

DAVID CHESKIN/PA WIRE/PA PHOTOS

THE LOCH NESS WONDER

A poll commissioned by the Royal Automobile Club to find Britain’s favorite tourist sites found Loch Ness and the romantic ruins of Urquhart Castle on top by a wide margin. The wild, mysterious lake at the north of the Great Glen led the “Seven Wonders of Britain,” receiving three times the vote accorded second-place finisher Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire.

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BUCKINGHAM PALACE GARDENS TO OPEN

Beginning next spring, the Queen is opening her private garden to the public for the first time in more than 200 years. Covering 39 acres, the royal family backyard is the largest private garden in London, with a three-acre pond, 350 varieties of wildflowers and an abundance of waterfowl.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

QE2 PAYS FINAL VISIT TO NEW YORK

After four decades, 806 Atlantic crossings and nearly 6 million miles at sea, the majestic QE2 paid its final visit to New York in October. The venerable vessel has now gone into retirement as a floating hotel and “entertainment destination” in Dubai.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

UPDATING THE POUND STERLING

Britain’s weakened economy has contributed to a continued slide in the value of the pound. At its presstime &dollar;1.50 to the pound, the dollar is stronger than it has been in more than five years. If the exchange stabilizes at these figures for a while, travel in Great Britain will be more affordable for American visitors in 2009 than it has been since 2001.

Swindon, Wiltshire

National Trust Receives Mega-Donation

COURTESY OF HISTORIC HOUSE HOTELS

THREE HISTORIC country houses rescued from ruin and developed into posh hotels have been given to the National Trust by hotelier Richard Broyd. Bodysgallen Hall in Llandudno, Hartwell House in the Buckinghamshire countryside west of Aylesbury and Middlethorpe Hall near York were transferred to the Trust in the largest single donation to the NT since World War II. Broyd handed over the properties to ensure they would be preserved in perpetuity. The properties will continue to serve as hotels.

Westminster and Holyrood

A Royal Pardon for Witches?

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BOTH THE UK AND SCOTTISH governments have been presented with petitions calling for the royal pardon of witches. Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, some 400 people in England and 2,000 in Scotland were judicially executed for witchcraft. A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman was skeptical, noting: “the granting of a free pardon is extremely rare. To receive a Royal Pardon the test is a high one. It is not enough that the conviction may be unsafe—the applicant must be technically and morally innocent.” Prosecution of witchcraft as a crime was abolished by the 1735 Witchcraft Act.

All Over the Counties

Mamma Mia! Box Office Champion

UNIVERSAL/THE KOBAL COLLECTION

MOVE OVER, Harry Potter. Mamma Mia! became the feelgood hit of the summer in Britain and much of Europe, and entered the autumn as the all-time biggest grossing British film—crossing the &dollar;500 million box office mark. Based on the hit musical stage play and the music of pop group ABBA, and starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan, the upbeat musical is credited with giving Britain its best year at the cinema box office since 1972.

Swansea, Wales

Birthplace of Dylan Thomas Opened

BARRY BATCHELOR/PA WIRE/PA PHOTOS

IT WAS OCTOBER 27, on what would have been the poet’s 94th birthday, that the restored birthplace and childhood home of Dylan Thomas was opened. Swansea businessman Geoff Haden and his wife Anne spent three years on this labor of love, restoring the simple Edwardian terraced-house at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Swansea.
Now, the Thomas birthplace looks just as it would have in 1914 when Thomas was born, shortly after his parents moved in. The Hadens plan to hold literary events at the house and to rent it as self-catering accommodation to holidaymakers, just as it was in 1914—no television, radio or phones, and with a cast-iron toilet upstairs.

And Just in Passing

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FIRST BRITISH-BUILT STEAM ENGINE IN 50 YEARS TAKES THE TRACKS

It took 18 years of work to build the Tomado, but steam enthusiasts persevered. Railroad history was made this autumn when the brand new Peppercorn class A1 Pacific 60163 locomotive made its maiden voyage along the Grand Central line in Leicestershire— the first new steam locomotive built since 1960.

FREE VIDEO WEB SITE HAILED IN SCOTLAND

Tourism officials are singing the praises of the new Web site www.wondras.com, which offers free high quality video downloads of scores of places across Scotland. If your heart’s in the Highlands, check it out.

JOHN STILLWELL/PA ARCHIVE/PA PHOTOS

LAST TITANIC SURVIVOR’S MEMENTOES ON THE BLOCK

Millvina Dean, 96, the last survivor of Titanic, raised more than £30,000 by selling her mementoes of the disaster at auction. Along with rare prints of Titanic and compensation letters, Dean had a suitcase of clothes given to her family when they arrived destitute in New York City following the ship’s sinking in 1912.

GETTY IMAGES

OCTOBER SNOWS BRING EARLY WINTER CHILL

Snow fell in London during October for the first time since 1934. The snows knocked out power, diverted flights and snarled traffic across the Home Counties and north to Scotland during the late October freeze.

London

What the Papers Heard in the City

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A DIRECTOR decided to award £50 for the best idea for saving his company money during the credit crunch. The winner was a young executive who suggested reducing the prize money to £10. Elsewhere in the City, the papers report hearing:
“The credit crunch has helped me get back on my feet. The car’s been repossessed.”
“This credit crunch is worse than a divorce. I’ve lost half my net worth and I still have a wife.”
“The bank returned a check to me this morning, stamped ‘insufficient funds.’ Is it them or me?”
“You know it’s a credit crunch when there’s a ‘buy one, get one free’ offer—on banks.”

Euston, London

Treasures Honored at British Library

WIREIMAGE

THE WINNERS of a national poll organized by the British Library and the Sunday Telegraph to find living National Treasures were announced at a soiree of glitterati at the Euston library.
Lady Margaret Thatcher, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Richard Branson and Sir David Attenborough were each declared National Treasures for their outstanding contributions to Great British public life, the arts, enterprise and science respectively.

Durham University, Durham

All’s Well That Ends Well?

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A 1623 FIRST folio of William Shakespeare, worth some £15 million and allegedly stolen from Durham University in 1998, has been returned to Britain. Two detectives from the Durham Police major crime team accompanied the rare work on its journey from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, where the work had turned up this summer. One Raymond Scott from Washington, Tyne and Wear, brought the Bard’s folio into the Folger to have it authenticated, and Folger experts soon suspected the book was the stolen volume. Scott claimed to have purchased the book legitimately in Cuba, but the investigation continues into whether the folio is the one stolen from Durham. The drama may not have come to its end yet.

City Hall, London

Urging Londoners to Grow Veg

A NEW CAMPAIGN called Capital Growth has been unveiled by London Mayor Boris Johnson. Londoners are being encouraged to grow their own food. Councils, housing estates, schools, hospitals and other such organizations are being encouraged to open their land for community gardening. The initiative aims to convert more than 2,000 parcels of London land into garden plots for fruit and vegetables.
“It will help to make London a greener, more pleasant place to live whilst providing healthy and affordable food,” Johnson enthused.

And Just in Passing

BRITAINONVIEW/DANIEL BOSWORTH

IT’S OFFICIALLY THE WORLD’S LONGEST PUB CRAWL

They started in 1984 and have entered Guinness Book of Records for drinking in every English county and every pub in 11 counties. The fearless foursome of mates from West Bromwich have called at their 14,000th pub—the Stags Leap, Rugeley—and remain determined to have a pint in every pub in Britain.

DARREN STAPLES/REUTERS/LANDOV

SAY, WHAT WAS THAT AGAIN?

It is no secret that Britain faces a long-term housing shortage. But according to Lincoln Mayor G.L. Martin, quoted in Union Jack, “There is no housing shortage in Lincoln today, just a rumor that is put about by people who have no place to live.”